State v. Goodwin

Decision Date04 December 1919
Docket NumberNo. 20602.,20602.
Citation217 S.W. 264
PartiesSTATE v. GOODWIN.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Dunklin County; W. S. O. Walker, Judge.

Mollie Goodwin was convicted of running a bawdyhouse, and appeals. Reversed and remanded.

Upon an information filed charging her with the offense of unlawfully and feloniously permitting a female under the age of 18 years to enter into and remain in a common bawdyhouse, the appellant, Mollie Goodwin, was tried and convicted. The judgment of the court recites that the defendant, "having been found guilty of the crime of running a bawdyhouse," is sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for the period of 2 years. From this judgment the defendant appeals to this court. The facts in this case are substantially as follows:

The defendant, Mollie Goodwin) married, but living apart from her husband, was about 45 years of age at the time of the trial, unable either to read or to write, and the mother of several children, three of whom were daughters who lived with her at Octa, in Dunklin county, Mo. About the 12th day of June, 1917, appellant was arrested, and the charge first above stated was filed against her. The case came on for trial—apparently for the second time—on the 10th day of July, 1918.

The three daughters were aged, respectively, 26, 22, and 17 or 18. The younger daughter, Dollie Goodwin, is the minor female, as the state claims, whom the defendant is charged with having permitted to be and remain in the house aforesaid, and one of the issues in this case is as to her age in June, 1917, the date of the commission of the alleged offense. The evidence for the state tended to show that the general reputation for chastity and morality of the appellant and her three daughters was bad; that the four composed the family; that at least one other woman of bad reputation in the respects above mentioned was sometimes an inmate of the house with appellant and her daughters; that the house was frequented by numerous men, some of whom were of bad repute; that these men were at the house at unseemly hours; that the daughters, or some of them, were occasionally-out riding at night in buggies or automobiles with strange men; that one of the daughters was the mother of an illegitimate child; that in a few instances, at least, illicit sexual intercourse had occurred in the appellant's house and with herself or her daughters; that upon the night of her arrest the appellant had confessed to several persons that she had been conducting a bawdyhouse at the time and place named for gain; and that her daughter Dollie Goodwin was at that time 17 years of age and would not attain her eighteenth birthday until some time in the month of September, 1917. The evidence for the state further showed that subsequent to the time of her arrest, in June, 1917, and the date of the trial, the appellant had been convicted of keeping a bawdyhouse.

The evidence for the defense consisted of the testimony of the three daughters above mentioned, the defendant herself, and one other person. Their testimony, in substance, tended to prove the innocence of the defendant. On the question of the age of Dollie Goodwin appellant introduced a family Bible containing a record of the dates of, the births of all her children, and by this record Dollie Goodwin was shown to have been born on the 2d day of September, 1898, and was therefore over the age of 18 years at the time of the commission of the offense charged. This record had been copied from another family Bible, which, because of its age and tattered condition, had been thrown away. The record had been transcribed by one of the older daughters. The trial of the cause was had before a jury, and upon the conclusion of the evidence for the state, and again upon the conclusion of all of the evidence, a demurrer to the evidence was interposed by the defendant and overruled by the court. At the conclusion of all of the evidence the court, at the instance of the state, gave nine instructions, to the giving of which defendant at the time excepted, and at the instance of the defendant gave to the jury five instructions. Defendant also asked two additional instructions, numbered 6 and 7, which the court refused to give. Defendant also requested the court to instruct on all of the law applicable in the case.

During the argument of the case counsel for the state indulged in certain remarks of which appellant complains, and which are set forth in the bill of exceptions, not in connected form, the entire argument not being reported, but only that portion of it of which complaint is made. These remarks are as follows:

By Mr. J. A. Bradley: "It is my firm conviction and judgment, and it will be to my dying day, that the defendant is guilty."

By Mr. G. W. Smith, Prosecuting Attorney: "Turn the defendant, loose, and she will conduct herself in the future as she has conducted herself in the past. * * * The defendant has the devil in her heart. * * * The defendant is guilty of white slavery."

Defendant's objections to the two excerpts first above noted were overruled by the court. An objection to the statement that the defendant had the devil in her heart was by the court sustained. The prosecuting attorney thereafter said, "The defendant is guilty of white slavery," and to this remark the defendant objected, and the court sustained the objection. It appears that thereafter various objections were made by defendant's counsel to the argument of counsel for the state, and at some stage of the proceedings the court said, "I am going to sustain every objection that the counsel for the defendant makes," and counsel for def...

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40 cases
  • State v. Williams
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 18 Octubre 1935
    ...the jury to disregard such argument and in failing to reprimand the prosecuting attorney, at the request of the defendant. State v. Goodwin, 217 S.W. 264; State v. Connor, 252 S.W. 713; State v. Webb, 162 S.W. 622, 254 Mo. 414; State v. Thompson, 238 S.W. 115; State v. Hess, 144 S.W. 489, 2......
  • State v. Williams
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 18 Octubre 1935
    ...the jury to disregard such argument and in failing to reprimand the prosecuting attorney, at the request of the defendant. State v. Goodwin, 217 S.W. 264; v. Connor, 252 S.W. 713; State v. Webb, 162 S.W. 622, 254 Mo. 414; State v. Thompson, 238 S.W. 115; State v. Hess, 144 S.W. 489, 240 Mo.......
  • State v. Pierson
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 14 Diciembre 1932
    ...18 S.W.2d 10; State v. Ferguson, 152 Mo. 92, 53 S.W. 428; State v. Burns, 237 S.W. 506; State v. Cole, 299 Mo. 372, 252 S.W. 701; State v. Goodwin, 217 S.W. 266; State v. Reppley, 278 Mo. 333, 213 S.W. State v. Stegner, 276 Mo. 427, 207 S.W. 826; State v. Hess, 240 Mo. 147, 144 S.W. 491; St......
  • Schwartzman v. London & Lancashire Fire Ins. Co., Limited, of Liverpool, England
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 4 Febrero 1928
    ... ... matter of law, and regardless of any showing that such member ... acted unfairly or partially. Goodwin v. Insurance ... Co., 118 Iowa 601; Pool v. Hennessy, 39 Iowa ... 192; Schoenich v. Insurance Co., 109 Minn. 388; ... Western Assur. Co. v ... fact as well as of equitable principles, is the generally ... accepted doctrine, adhered to in this State. [ Harwood v ... Toms, 130 Mo. 225, 32 S.W. 666; Canty v ... Halpin, 294 Mo. 118, 242 S.W. 97.] ...          III. We ... are thus ... ...
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